U.S. patent number 5,862,596 [Application Number 08/871,147] was granted by the patent office on 1999-01-26 for hand held cutter.
Invention is credited to Yen-Chao Chung.
United States Patent |
5,862,596 |
Chung |
January 26, 1999 |
Hand held cutter
Abstract
A hand held cutter which is able to facilitate users to easily
replace a blade received therein. The users will only need to push
a pusher, then an upper cover and a lower cover of the hand held
cutter are easily separated. The upper cover and a lower cover of
the hand held cutter are assembled by pressing down a pressing
knob, which initiates a secure attachment relationship between the
upper cover and the lower cover.
Inventors: |
Chung; Yen-Chao (Taipei,
TW) |
Family
ID: |
25356815 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/871,147 |
Filed: |
June 9, 1997 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
30/162;
30/335 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B26B
5/001 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B26B
5/00 (20060101); B26B 001/08 () |
Field of
Search: |
;30/151,162,335 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Payer; Hwei-Siu
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Welsh & Katz, Ltd.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A hand held cutter comprising:
an upper cover having a first flange integrally formed therewith, a
first cut defined in said flange, a through hole defined therein,
and a pressing knob having an extension movably extending through
said through hole and defining therein an aperture;
a lower cover having a second flange corresponding to said first
flange, a second cut defined in said second flange and
corresponding to said first cut, an opening defined in a face
thereof, a cover securely mounted onto said opening and defining
therein a channel and a seat movably received between said upper
cover and said lower cover and having a driving knob integrally
formed on a side thereof and movably received between said first
cut and said second cut and a blade securely received therein;
a plate having a pusher movably disposed along said channel of said
cover, a trapezoid provided with an inclined face attachably
connected with a first distal end of said extension of said
pressing knob and a stop;
a first coil spring securely retained between a face of said upper
cover and a C-ring securely received within a slit defined in a
periphery of said extension of said pressing knob and a second coil
spring a first end of which is securely connected to a
predetermined position of said lower cover and a second end of
which is securely connected to said stop of said plate.
2. The hand held cutter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lower
cover further has a limitation mounted onto a predetermined
position thereof to limit a movement of said plate.
3. The hand held cutter as claimed in claim 1, wherein a distal
edge of said inclined face of said trapezoid extends into said
aperture of said extension of said pressing knob to retain said
pressing knob.
4. The hand held cutter as claimed in claim 3, wherein said distal
edge of said inclined face of said trapezoid leaves said aperture
of said extension to have said pressing knob projected back by said
first coil spring.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a hand held cutter, and
more particularly to a hand held cutter having an upper cover and a
lower cover pivotally connected with the upper cover. The upper
cover and the lower cover can readily be separated from each other
which enables a user to easily replace a blade slidably received
therein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A structure of a conventional hand held cutter is shown in FIGS. 9
and 10. The hand held cutter comprises an upper cover 80 and a
lower cover 81 threadingly secured to the upper cover by means of a
screw 87. A blade 82 having two sharp edges (not numbered) is
slidably received in a recess 83 defined between the upper cover 80
and the lower cover 81 and securely confined within a seat 84
having a width equal to that of the blade 82. The seat 84 has
integrally formed on a side a push-button 85 extending out from an
elongate opening (not shown or numbered) defined by both the upper
cover 80 and the lower cover 81, such that pushing of the
push-button 85 will drive the blade 82 to move outward from a slit
(not shown or numbered) defined by both an end of the upper cover
80 and the lower cover 81. The upper cover 80 and the lower cover
81, as previously described, are threadingly secured together by
the screw 87 extending through a first through hole 801 defined in
the upper cover 80 and a second through hole 811 defined in the
lower cover 81, when both the first through hole 801 and the second
through hole 811 are aligned.
After frequent use of the blade 82, one edge of the blade 82 will
become dull and a replacement of the blade 82 is necessary. To
replace the blade 82, a user needs to unscrew the screw 87 and
therefore separate the upper 80 and the lower cover 81 to access
the blade 82. It is very inconvenient for the user to separate the
upper cover 80 from the lower cover 81 every time he/she wishes to
replace the blade 82. Sometimes, when the user is working at an
altitude, separating the hand held cutter to access the blade 82
will compromise the safety of the user.
From the previous description, the hand held cutter available in
the market is not able to fulfill the needs of users and
improvements or alterations thereof are thus required. A hand held
cutter constructed in accordance with the present invention tends
to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main objective of the invention is to provide a hand held
cutter consisting of an upper cover and a lower cover enclosing a
blade therebetween which is easily opened so the blade can be
replaced without fully separating the covers.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a hand held cutter
having a pressing knob integrally provided with an extension
movably extending through the upper cover and a plate movably
arranged within the lower cover and configured to have a trapezoid
provided with an inclined face and a stop integrally formed
thereon. A distal end of the extension is abutted against the
inclined face of the trapezoid when the upper cover and the lower
cover are assembled. Due to an aperture being defined in the
extension and adjacent to the distal end thereof, pushing the
pressing knob will force the plate together with the trapezoid to
move horizontally, and recovery force provided by a second coil
spring will pull back the plate, thus a farmost edge of the
inclined face of the trapezoid will extend into the aperture of the
extension and thus retain the extension in position when the plate
is pulled back by the second coil spring thereby completing the
assembly between the upper cover and the lower cover. However,
moving the plate again in the an opposite direction, the pressing
knob will then project back because of the provision of a coil
spring, and the upper cover and the lower cover are opened.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will
become more apparent from the following detailed description when
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will now be better understood with reference
of the accompanying drawings wherein;
FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a hand held cutter constructed in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the hand held cutter as shown in FIG.
1;
FIG. 3 is still a schematic view showing a movement of a trapezoid
caused by a downward movement of a pressing knob;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a combination between an
extension of the pressing knob and an inclined face of the
trapezoid;
FIGS. 5 and 6 are sectional views showing a movement of a plate
movably received within a lower cover of the hand held cutter will
disengage the combination between the extension and the
trapezoid;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a rear portion of the lower
cover;
FIG. 8 is a partial, sectional side view of the upper cover
pivotally connected with the lower cover;
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a conventional hand held
cutter;
FIG. 10 is a plan view of the hand held cutter, as shown in FIG. 7,
with its upper cover being removed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1, one preferred embodiment of a hand held cutter
constructed in accordance with the present invention is shown. The
hand held cutter comprises a receptacle having an upper cover 10
configured to have a flange 101 integrally formed therewith, a
first recess 11 defined in a front portion thereof, a through hole
16 defined therein, two opposing cutouts 13 defined in a rear
portion thereof and each having a protrusion 14 integrally formed
therewith and a first cut 12 defined in a predetermined position of
the flange 101 and a lower cover 20 having a flange 201 integrally
formed therewith and corresponding to the flange 101 of the upper
cover 10, a second recess 21 defined in a front portion thereof and
corresponding to the first recess 11 of the upper cover 10 to
receive a blade 51 therebetween, a second cut 22 defined in a
predetermined position of the flange 201 and corresponding to the
first cut 12 of the upper cover 10, two opposing projections 23
each integrally formed on a rear portion of the lower cover 20 and
respectively having a shape corresponding to each one of the
cutouts 13, an opening 25 defined in a face thereof and a cover 26
mounted onto the opening 25 and having a channel 27 defined
therein. A seat 50 movably received between the first recess 11 of
the upper cover 10 and the second recess 21 of the lower cover 20
is constructed to have the blade 51 securely received therein and a
knob 52 integrally formed on a side thereof and movably received
between the first cut 12 and the second cut 22. Because the seat 50
having the blade 51 securely received therein and the receptacle
which is to movably receive the seat 50 therein are well known in
the art, detailed description thereof is omitted.
The hand held cutter of the invention further has a pressing knob
30 provided with a hat 31 integrally formed on a first distal end
of an extension 36. A circular slit 33 is defined in a periphery of
the extension 36 and an aperture 32 is defined adjacent to a second
distal end of the extension 36, such that when the extension 36 of
the pressing knob 30 extends beyond the through hole 16 of the
upper cover 10, a C-ring 35 is able to snap into the circular slit
33 and thus retains the extension 36 in position, after the
extension 36 extends into a coil spring 34 (as shown in FIG. 2).
Additionally, a plate 40 having a pusher 41 movably arranged and
confined between the channel 27 of the cover 26 is configured to
have a trapezoid 43 provided with an inclined face 430 and a stop
42 integrally formed thereon. Both the trapezoid 43 and the stop 42
are formed on a first face of the plate 40 and the pusher 41 is
formed on a second face of the plate 40. A distal end of the
extension 36 engages the inclined face 430 of the trapezoid 43 when
the upper cover and the lower cover are assembled. Due to the
aperture 32 being defined in the extension 36 and adjacent to a
second distal end (not numbered) thereof, pushing the pressing knob
30 downward will force the plate 40 together with the trapezoid 43
to move horizontally (as shown in FIG. 3), and because a recovery
force provided by a second coil spring 44 whose two ends are
respectively and securely fixed to the stop 42 and at a
predetermined position on a face of the lower cover 20 will pull
back the plate 40, thus a farmost edge of the inclined face 430 of
the trapezoid 43 will extend into the aperture 32 of the extension
36 and thus retain the extension 36 in position when the plate 40
is pulled back by the second coil spring 44 (as shown in FIG. 4),
which completes the assembly between the upper cover 10 and the
lower cover 20. There is provided with a limitation 28 at a
predetermined position on a face of the lower cover 20, such that
when the plate 40 is pulled back by the second coil spring 44, the
limitation 28 will limit the plate 40 to have further movement.
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, moving the plate 40 again by pushing
the pusher 41 along the channel 27 of the cover 26, the farmost end
of the inclined face 430 of the trapezoid 43 will then leave the
restriction of the aperture 32 and thus the pressing knob 30 will
move upward due to the provision of a resilient force by the first
coil spring 34, and the upper cover 10 and the lower cover 20 are
opened.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 7, a rear end of the upper cover 10 is
provided with two cutouts 13 each having a protrusion 14 formed on
a side face thereof, and a rear end of the lower cover 20 is
provided with two projections 23 having a shape corresponding to a
shape of the cutout 13. Each of the projections 23 further defines
therein a transverse first passage 241 and a longitudinal second
passage 242 communicating with the transverse first passage 241.
FIG. 7 shows that a height of the longitudinal second passage 242
is higher than a position of where the transverse first passage 241
is defined, so that when both of the protrusions 14 of the upper
cover 10 extend into the transverse first passage 241, the
protrusions 14 are able to further extend into the longitudinal
second passage 242 and will thus be retained therein, because of a
height difference between the first passage 241 and the second
passage 242 and an engagement between a face of each of the cutouts
13 with an upper face of each of the projections 23. Having such a
structure, the upper cover 10 is able to pivot with respective to
the the lower cover 20, as shown in FIG. 8.
From the foregoing, it is seen that the objects hereinbefore set
forth may readily and efficiently be attained, and since certain
changes may be made in the above construction and different
embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope
thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above
description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be
interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
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